U.S. fiddles, California acts

Saturday, July 27, 2002

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD

You've got to hand it to California. The state has taken on global warming -- an enormous project that even the superpowerful United States of America has ignored.

Actually, maybe the big problem California has tackled is not the greenhouse gases that are heating the planet, but recalcitrance of the auto and oil industries.

With 10 percent of the nation's auto market, California has the clout to insist on new emission standards for such gases as carbon dioxide. The law signed Monday by California Gov. Gray Davis has the California Air Resources Board setting "economically feasible" standards by 2006, which will have to be accomplished in 2009 model vehicles.

California steps up after Congress failed to pass Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards that would require auto makers to achieve an average fuel efficiency for their whole fleet. California steps up while the United States refuses to sign the Kyoto treaty on global warming.

Because California began addressing smog before enactment of the federal Clean Air Act, the state is allowed to write its own air quality regulations. Other states are permitted to match the federal standards or California's. Once again, other states should follow California's lead.

We should be grateful to California: Auto makers will have to comply or sell no automobiles in California, so the technology will be available everywhere else. (And even populous California cannot make a dent in global warming by itself.)

Since clean vehicles will almost certainly use less gasoline, the oil industry will have to adapt. The auto industry employs legions of smart people who can meet this requirement when the companies make it their priority.

But that can't be the end of it. While the auto makers are required to develop cleaner vehicles, American consumers demand heavy, powerful gas guzzlers. Cutting gas emissions may mean higher prices for SUVs (or vehicles powered by fuel cells or other technologies).

Consumers need to join this effort. We can save up to buy a new vehicle -- with a planet less theatened as standard equipment.

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